Darjeeling was first started as a refuge for wearied officers and employees of the Raj by two besotted British officers Llyod and Grant.It has been more than 170 years since and The Queen of Hillstations still regains much of its charms and allures I must admit.
The present city is a long drive away from the Station of New jalpaiguri where the last train stops.You generally have to travel for two to three hours before you reach the Town.The journey is as interesting as the destination with luscious tea gardens flocking both sides of the roads.
Its just a trailer of the beauty you are about to experience.You pass through the minor stations of Ghoom ,Sukna and Kurseong before you get here.
Kurseong has a lively and Quaint railway station with its own musuem and bric-a-brac.The railway lines running through the area were made in 1880 and the world famous miniature Locomotives are really a very common but interesting sight here.You will also pass the Himalayan Train on your way upwards.There is something called the Agony point on the way to Darjeeling which is a part where the Toy train can actually be seen travelling on a looped railway line.The way these trains travel upwards through the mouintaineous terrains is very interesting.They actuallygo back and forth in a manner called the reverse and also travel in loops as mentioned earlier.This way was devised by the British engineers as one of the best ways to make the train work on such a terrain.

In its own cliched way ,like all mountain destinations Darjeeling is nothing new but then again it is.The handful of places that you can visit range from the Japanese temple,Tibetan refugee centre to the Zoological gradens,Tiger hills and the famous Darjeeling mall.We stopped at the railway rest house called the CRAIGS POINT with its fabulous placing you could see the tiger hills at one side and the sprawling town on the other.We started the day with a walk through the mall since we reached somewhere during the late afternoon.The mall has a lot of things to offer from the curio shops lined in rows,the fountain show they have started, Legendary eating joints Glenaries,Cavenders, newer ones which resemble italian cafes.A number of coffee an elegant Tea shops have also opened up and we tried out a place called the HOUSE OF TEA.We sipped a cup of something called the Harvest of the Valley which was a delicately flavoured tea.Reportedly or according to the owner this brand and others including white tea are sold in US markets in lakhs .I was allowed to sniff one container which contained a tea sold at Rs35000 per Kg.Phew!.For Dinner we decided to go with a place called SHANGRILA since the mood was for tibetian food.One of the first things you notice when you enter this place is a very striking painting at the end of the hall made on the lines of THE LAST SUPPER the twist was that all the characters were Tibetan monks.It was painted by a Mahinder Thami and I was mighty impressed.For dinner I experimented with something called THUKPA which surprisingly turned out to be noodles in a soup topped up with an omlette.I had to quite to the amusement of everybody fish out the noodles out on my plate but nonetheless enjoyed the taste.Other offerings are the world famous momos,shaptas which is meat (chicken,pork,beef) in gravy and Tibetan bread.The best part were the apple fritters which took my breath away.I suggest if you do drop in here go for the momos and fritters which you get in other fruits as well.

The Second day started with a trip to the MYOHO NIPPON ZHE.The Japanese temple is a very serene place despite the crowd you will still find peace here.In the temple you can hear the sound of the drum and the chantings NA MU MYO HO REN KYE GYO....roughly meaning I TAKE REFUGE(DEVOTE OR SUBMIT MYSELF) IN THE LOTUS SUTRA(THE TEACHING OF THE SUBLIME OR MYSTIC LAW OF THE UNIVERSE).Its a chant practised by the Nichiren buddhists propounded by the great Nichiren as a transcription of lotus sutra.It has been interpretted in many ways and courts controversy but it generally aims to propound the teachings of the Lotus sutra,one of the three cyclical times when the ultimate teaching is called the lotus sutra, which leads the way in to the mysterious laws of the Universe.
The visitors are allowed to kneel down in front of the dieties and beat the drums and chant the mantras and hereby taking part in the Worship.The other part of the temple is the white and gold Gumbaj which incorporates statues relating to the various stages in Lord Buddhas life and also stories of King Bimbisara and other mythologies.

The next destination was the TIBETAN REFUGEE SELF HELP CENTER.I managed to get a few beautiful shots of this place tucked away in the heights quite away from the hustle bustle of the town.It consisted of a museum,shops selling local curios and lively tibetan children playing basketball and frolicking about in the mountain sun.








Since time was not with us we had to shorten the trip and we rounded it with a quick trip to the ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS AND THE MOUNTAINEERING INSTITUTE.The zoo was a filled with predators ranging from the Siberian Tiger,Bengal Tiger,Mountain Wolves,Sloth Bear to lesser predators like the Red panda,Slow Morris,colourful mountain pheasents and other crawly things like newts and lizzards.Right above you can see a really sleepy Red Panda and a Restless Tiger prowling about in its cage.

Finally the trip ended with a quick lunch at the resthouse and we were back on the roads going downhill this time,back to the heat and dust ,the daily mundane life beckoned.So they say that ALL GOOD THINGS DO NOT LAST or was it WHY DO ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END.....